Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to time of flight sensing and more specifically to the utilization of time of flight sensing to provide security and power savings for electronic devices.
Description of the Related Art
Current mobile electronic devices such as laptop computers, tablet computers and smart phones increasingly provide a variety of different ways of controlling access to the electronic device in addition to conventional password access control. Many such devices, for example, now utilize iris recognition, facial recognition, or both, to authenticate a user and either provide or deny access of the user to the electronic device. Current iris and facial recognition systems typically utilize an iterative process with the electronic device providing feedback to the user so that the user may properly position his or her face to allow the recognition system to operate properly. For example, the electronic device displays user feedback as to the position of the user's face relative to the electronic device and provides the user an indication when the position of the user's face relative to the electronic device, including the distance from the electronic device, is proper so that the recognition system may begin capturing images to authenticate the user. As a result, current iris and facial recognition systems may result in a relatively slow and cumbersome process of authenticating the user due to the time required to properly position the users face relative to the electronic device and the subsequent computation to process captured images once the positioning is proper. This is particularly true in low light conditions during which a camera of the recognition system captures the images required for recognition at a lower rate (i.e., fewer frames per second).
In addition to security relating to providing or denying access to mobile electronic devices, security concerns may also arise due to the portable nature of such mobile electronic devices and the different environments in which these devices are utilized. For example, mobile electronic devices are commonly utilized in public settings such as in a coffee shop, a restaurant, a semi-public workshare type location, and so on. In these settings privacy concerns may also arise in relation to the content that a user of the mobile electronic device is viewing on a visual display of the device. The visual display of a mobile electronic device may in these settings be capable of being seen by a number of people seated at an adjacent table or otherwise proximate the user and his or her mobile electronic device. Moreover, the location of the setting or environment in which the user is utilizing his or her mobile electronic device may result in a higher likelihood that people proximate the user in the environment may be from competitor companies, such where the user is in a coffee shop in Silicon Valley or a city such as Seattle with a large number of high-tech and startup companies.
Yet another issue that arises for users of mobile electronic devices relates to the security of the device itself when in a public setting or environment. A laptop computer, for example, typically locks when a display of the computer is closed to prevent an unauthorized person from physically taking the computer and thereby gaining access to the computer. A person in such a public environment certainly does not want his or her mobile laptop computer to be stolen but may be much more concerned about a thief gaining access to the contents of that laptop computer than the computer itself. A sensor, such as a Hall sensor, is utilized in many laptop computers to sense the opening and closing of the display. Such sensors are inexpensive but may not reliably detect the closing of the display of the laptop computer. As a result, closing the display may not result in locking or preventing access to the computer until a person provides the required authentication information. In addition to locking the laptop computer closing the display also typically turns OFF the computer or places the computer in a low-power mode of operation upon detecting the closing of the display. Thus, if the sensor does not reliably detect the closing of the display the computer may not be turned off or placed in a low-power mode of operation, which results in unwanted power consumption and reduced battery life when the computer is under battery power.
There is a need for improving the security of mobile electronic devices and reducing the power consumption of such devices.